BLUE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY. Were not talking about... The smurfs Clinically depressed people Fans of B.B. King The Blue Man Group Avatarians.

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Presentation on theme: "BLUE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY. Were not talking about... The smurfs Clinically depressed people Fans of B.B. King The Blue Man Group Avatarians."— Presentation transcript:

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BLUE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY

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Were not talking about... The smurfs Clinically depressed people Fans of B.B. King The Blue Man Group Avatarians

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Ingesting elemental silver can also turn the skin blue. This man, Paul Karason, rubbed colloidal silver on his face and skin many years ago to treat a skin condition, which made him slowly turn a bluish/grey color.

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WHO ARE THEY? "Blue People" are descendants of Martin Fugate, who suffered from a recessive gene which limits or stops the production of the enzyme diaphorase (enzymes that catalyze the reduction of various dyes to act as hydrogen acceptors NADH + NADPH).

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What makes them blue? Methemoglobinemia Red blood cells (RBC) from blue people are deficient in NADH diaphorase activity and cannot reduce the oxidized iron in methemoglobin (metHb).

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The lack of this enzyme gives people a blueish cast to their skin rather than pink. Lack of oxygen to RBC gives this color.

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Interview '"He was almost purple,"' his father, Alva Stacy, recalls." Benjy was born in a maternity ward near Hazard, Kentucky and was rushed by ambulance to a medical clinic in Lexington to find help for his blue problem. Days of testing provided no answers; but then Benjy's grandmother told the doctor a story about the "blue" Fugates. Incredibly, Benjy had inherited a gene dating back over 162 years! Thankfully, Benjy lost his blue shade after a few weeks and the only lingering effects were blue fingernails and lips when he was cold or angry.